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Thailand is one of the most heavily-touristed destinations in South-East Asia and firmly located on the
backpacker trail. I first visited in 1996, and even in these intervening three short years I found it has changed considerably. However, the people are still friendly
and the culture and country fascinating.
This time round I came into Thailand through it's furthest northern border with Laos. Still with Jamie and Richard from Laos, we stayed in the little border town of Chiang Khong before heading down to Thailand's second largest city, Chiang Mai. Although Chiang Mai is quite a nice place to visit, I had been here before and seen all I wanted. Leaving a poorly Richard in Chiang Mai (what we thought was a minor case of food poisoning turned out to involve Richard's hospitalisation in Bangkok - soz Richard!) Jamie and I continued on to the small town of Pai, near the Burmese border and a centre for hilltribe trekking, meditation courses and Thai cookery classes. We stayed in quiet bamboo huts next to a river, with a backdrop of rainforested-hills behind the sun would set every night to the din of jungle birds. It really was a beautiful location. We hired out mountain bikes for a couple of days and checked out the countryside. The hilltribes up here are less used to tourists - although they still get a fair few of us trucking through - so it was refreshing to be able to chat to the locals without the hard-sell all the time. Just outside Pai is the 'Chinese village' where a community of Chinese 'refugees' still live, having fled China when the Communists took over in the 1950's. |
 Sukothai Buddha, northern Thailand - Click to enlarge |
 Outside Pai - Click to enlarge |
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Most Thai men seem to want to emulate Bob Marley, and dress up in Rasta T-shirts to prove it. In Pai however,
the local flavour seemed to be jazz. I met the Soul Searchers, a jazz band who played every night in the local bar, dressed up
to the nines in black clothes and polished shoes and with an attitude to match. The music they played was wicked, although you'd actually have
to hear a Thai version of the Door's 'The End' to believe it.
I also took a Thai cookery course in Pai. My tutor took me down to the local market and directed me through all those funny-looking herbs, roots and vegetables that you always wondered what they were used for. This course proved to me that Thai cooking is even more exquisite and beautifully prepared than I previously thought. Bangkok Bangkok really is an exciting city, always hectic, polluted and completely streetlife-orientated. The Ko Sahn Road is Bangkok's backpacker central, and is developing fast - there's even a Boot's there now! A more 'authentic' Bangkok is just around the corner though - you can eat delicious cheap real Thai food in any of the backstreets. Loads of touristy things to do here - Royal Palace, Jim Thompson's House, visiting any of the elaborate golden Wats, or taking a boat trip round the city's canals. Ko Pha Ngan From Bangkok you can take a very comfortable Thai train down to the port of Chumphon and catch the rickety old 'midnight boat' over to the islands of Ko Tao, Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Samui. Ko Tao is a small quiet island, Samui is the big holiday destination and Ko Pha Ngan the party island, famous for the Full Moon celebrations. I spent 10 days on Ko Tao at 'Viewpoint' a collection of huts on a hill overlooking a bay, and took an Advanced Diver's Course there. The diving isn't as good as it used to be (apparently) but floating round in tropical warm water with only the sound of your breathing and fish biting off bits of coral is very theraputic. Ko Pha Ngan is well-known for its Full Moon Parties and 24-hour party atmosphere. By European standards, it's still fairly undeveloped. The main 'resort' is Hat Rin, in the southernmost corner of the island, a collection of bungalows, cafés, jewellery shops, and hippy hangouts. You can buy banana pancakes, coke, and Thai green curry at any of the cafés on the main drag. Night-time activities seem to be watching videos, wandering around or hooking up with a party on one of the little beaches around Hat Rin. You can drink Singha beer down at a bar on the beach and watch the stars, or venture up to the 'bar on the hill' for a more herbally-inspired milkshake. I spent a couple of crazy weeks just chilling out and meeting people. Among them, three English teachers taking time out from a posting in a remote part of China, a group of English lads who looked like they'd got lost from a package holiday in Ibiza; and an English couple who taught yoga and meditation in London. The Full Moon Parties are now pretty commerialised. Imagine hard trance and house, on a beach, very loud, with a load of Israeli's dancing round in flourescent clothing. The parties are pretty full-on, visited as much now by Bangkok dealers and prostitues and lady-boys as hippy travellers. It's not particularly safe, although the first time I ever went with pals from home Lewis and Caroline we had a wicked time. There's something about drinking a gin and tonic and watching the sunrise on a beach... |
 Ko Pha Ngan beach Click to enlarge |
 Bottle Beach at dusk Click to enlarge |
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Other parts of Ko Pha Ngan are a little more laid-back than Hat Rin. I spent time at a 'retreat' a few bays down from Hat Rin. It was pretentious to the point of laughable - anywhere offering 'sea therapy' whereby you go and flap round in the water and pay a tenner for the privilege cannot be taken seriously. Call me cynical...
Aside from this aspect, it is your average gorgeous tropical island, easy and cheap to visit, friendly enough if you avoid the hawkers, and verrrry chilled out. |
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